THE GIMMIES – OR – The Haul…

Remember the old Berenstein Bears Book, the Gimmies..

Boy oh boy do I feel like that tonight.. I just got a fairly nice haul of fairly nice stuff on Chrostmas morning, and I thought I’d share some of my favorite gifts I got, gave, and see what everyone else got or gave for Christmas or Hanukkah, or What not..

Remember the old Berenstein Bears Book, the Gimmies..

Boy oh boy do I feel like that tonight.. I just got a fairly nice haul of fairly nice stuff on Chrostmas morning, and I thought I’d share some of my favorite gifts I got, gave, and see what everyone else got or gave for Christmas or Hanukkah, or What not..

GAVE: Top 5. 1) A new car stereo for Kelly’s long commute. Plays MP3 CDs!! 2) A “Buffy pack” With the “Once More With Feeling” Musical episode cast album, “Tales of the Slayers” and “Fray”, 2 Slayer related graphic novels 3) A Keyboard for my little Sis. Just something small for her (shes 12). She take svoice lessons and is interested in learning piano basics. 4) Simpson Pants. I gave all 3 of my brothers unbelievably loud Homer Simpson pajama pants. 5) A silver Cross for Mom. Spent a LONG time looking for the right one… she really liked it.

GOT: Not top 4.. (cuz I don’t want to hurt feelings) 1) A Hat… with the words “TECH Entertainment” imprinted on it. That’s my company that I copyrighted back in middle school. 2) My Grandfather’s old surgical bag. It has a bunch of ancient medical supplies. I won’t ever use them, but its so cool to have them. Something I’ll show my kids one day. 3) DVDs!! I’m just gonna bunch them all together.. LOTR, Schindler’s list, Nosferatu, The Rock, Young Frankenstein.. fun fun fun!! 4) CDs – Just 2, but 2 good ones.. Elton’s Greatest hits and the score for “The Two Towers”.

So, did anyone else get anything good?

JT

16 thoughts on “THE GIMMIES – OR – The Haul…”

  1. Tops!

    Gave:

    • Xbox to the kids(Christy’s find at a garage sale this summer)
    • Game of Scrabble, deluxe edition with a really cool turntable that also stores the tiles, to family gift exchange. Since we have so many relatives, we each just buy one gift for adults who attend our party, and play a game to see who gets what.
    • Can of Tuna. Awaiting shipment to Happy Timpane. I must not forget to ship it this year; Happy’s wrath was brief, but fierce, last year. We must serve Happy with fear and thanksgiving…
    • Ice Cream maker and two skiing books to Christy.
    • Made treats for annual family dinner.

    Got:

    • Replacement leather jacket. This one is actually lambskin rather than leather; I felt bad for the lamb for about ten minutes before I wore it out into the bitterly-cold, single-digit temperatures outside. Then I merely felt gratitude that it gave its life for such a noble purpose as warming the torso of this hairless ape. It’s the third “leather” jacket I’ve had in my life: the first, recently featured in a picture of my teenage years here on barnson.org, the second, a gift from a friend who’s deceased father had worn it, and then this one. I really like it. My wife has good taste, and smart money sense.
    • DVDs: Spiderman 2 and two “Zoomba” exercise videos. Yeah, I prefer exercise videos to manly weightlifting.
    • Lazer Tag. Four taggers, with headsets. Zach got two, and I got two. We’re excited and spent a lot of time today racing around our house tagging each other and knocking important things off the walls in our haste.

    As with Justin, no particular order, just a few things that stand out to me. This was, by far, the biggest holiday we’ve ever celebrated. The year has treated us well and poorly all at the same time 🙂

    I actually wrote up a blog entry about my holiday blues, but decided to un-publish it. Maybe after I have some perspective in a few months I’ll re-post it. The part that is interesting to me is that, at the core, the season is about banding together and making it through hard times, and good times, with one another to lean upon. And we celebrate with tons of toys to reinforce how much fun and enjoyment we get just being around one another.

    And that, even by itself, is enough reason to get over the Holiday Blues and get on with just enjoying family and friends.

    We topped off our December 25th with a dinner with some close friends and their kids. We over-ate on smoked turkey, ham, and homemade ice cream, then eventually put the kids together and watched Spider Man 2 together. Christy had been up since very early, letting me sleep in (and we’d both been up late the night before doing traditional Santa stuff; we’ve tried letting him do his job, but he’s a fat, lazy old man who never bothers showing up…) so she fell asleep partway through on Steve and Emma’s comfortable, cloth-covered L-shaped couch.

    I tucked Christy into bed just a few minutes ago. It’s been a good day.

    —
    Matthew P. Barnson

    1. It’s a secret!

      Matt also got some really cool tags for his cute little car, but I think he doesn’t want anyone to know about them!–

      Christy

      1. Love ’em…

        I got so much swag this year, I didn’t wanna brag. But here they are:

        • Customized license plates that read “GEEKBOX” for my 2001 Honda Insight
        • A license plate holder which reads, “Your car sucks gas, mine sips.”

        —
        Matthew P. Barnson

  2. Xmas Swag

    GAVE:

    • Ofoto calendars featuring 12 months of Joey pictures, to parents, grandparents, siblings, etc.
    • DVDs of Harry Potter 3 and the 40th-anniversary edition of Mary Poppins, to wifey
    • awesome Lego car track thing, for Joey

    GOT:

    • HOUSE. (not really a present, but you know)
    • Chocolates, bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne, and $130 in Borders gift certificates, from overly-generous bosses
    • Beautiful framed print (24″x36″) of famous photograph of Grand Central Station, from wifey
    • Laptop (present to self, excellent deal)

    No huge traumas to report. The in-laws came and went without incident. Dani and I took all of our clothes and stuff and moved into the new house. We’ve got a bed, a TV, all our kitchen stuff, and that’s pretty much it. We’re going to live out of suitcases until the movers come in two weeks. Better than living at mom’s. 🙂

    — Ben Schuman Mad, Mad Tenor

    2. The moving party…

      So I initially read this sentence:

      Dani and I took all of our clothes and stuff and moved into the new house

      …as this sentence…

      Dani and I took off all our clothes and stuff and moved into the new house

      …and I thought to myself, “that must have been a hell of a moving party”.

      —
      Matthew P. Barnson

  3. Presents

    Gave: 1) XM radio for Joanna (OK, it’s for me too since now we have the home stereo hook-up also and I have an excuse to buy a receiever for my car also!) 2) a pair of UGG boots (these are the coolest things since sliced bread to the ladies… I dunno but maybe I can get some holiday nookie out of it!) 3) a pair of St Louis Cardinals bootie shorts for Joanna (OK, the team is for her but the bootie shorts are probably more of a treat for me to look at than for her to wear)

    Got: 1) A new driver for my golf game (sweet) 2) a golf trip to hawaii from my wife (also a “getting out of the Marine Corps present, but I got to play Kapalua which is an incredible PGA championship course in Maui. Since the green fees were so expensive, we considered it a christmas present. Whatch ESPN or whoever is carrying the Mercedes Championship Jan 3-9… that’s the course where I played) 3) a new suit for upcoming (hopefully) job interviews 4) an authentic Washington Nationals baseball hat which I am super-psyched about (shut up, they are not going to suck) 4) lots of goodies from both sets of parents

    Yes, Christmas was good to me this year. I am slowly starting to enjoy the holidays again. I went through several years where I blocked out any good memories I had about Christmas, New Year’s, Thanksgiving, etc. It just made it easier for me not to think about it since I haven’t been home for a holiday in years. Something about celebreating the holidays on ship, or in a desert, or in the mountains or forests somewhere away from family and freinds that can put a damper on things.

    This year I had a lot to be thankful for. I made it through 8 years in the Marines, two wars, countless close calls and came out of it with all my extremeties, a collection of great friends, experiences a college degree (almost!) and the coolest wife I could ask for (did I mention she was hot?)

    Hope everyone’s holiday was great.

    PS – Ben… what is your email address??

    EDIT by matthew: I assume this is a post from Kevin. You need to remember to log in, dude 🙂

    1. KEV..

      What area are you looking to go into (job wise)?

      We’re in the area still and both of us have contacts in different fields (Kelly especially)

      JT

      1. Job Prospects

        I’ve got a few leads up on the Hill… some at other government agencies and one with the Nationals. I’m still getting paid by the Marines until March, so I’ve ot time to find a good job and not in any rush. What contacts do you and your wife have?

        1. Contacts..

          Well, I’m not sure where you are interested in going..

          Mine are mostly Medical in nature, Kelly works in HR, which has made her an expert in recruiting in the area. Right now she works for a company that seeks employees that have secret clearance.

          Feel free to email me if you have any further questions..

        2. Contacts

          Glad to see you made it through the Corps. ok. I did my time in the Army. I work with a government contractor in the IT Field. They are a good company to work for and are always looking for good people, expecially with Security clearances. I am not sure what field you are looking in, but let me know if you would like me to forward your resume on.

          Jon@Brusco.org

          Happy New year !

    2. Cruise!

      Kevin wins with the XM Radio receiver. The more I listen, the more I love it. My best experience comes from directly emailing one of the channel DJs and having my request played within 15 minutes (old-time reggae baby!). Plus, XM is headquartered in DC.

      GOT:

      -Shani and I ended up “winning” a cruise. Basically, we went to a charity event and outbid others for a 7-night cruise. -America, by TDS writers. Hilarious.

      GAVE: -Seinfeld DVD first three seasons, to Fiancee Unit. -Creative Audio’s Muvo TX, which I believe to be a more cost-effective and functional mobile digital audio player than iPod. For $100, you get an mp3 player, FM tuner, digital voice recorder, and file storage all in one. Albeit it’s only 256 MB and 8 hours of AAA battery, but I thought it’s better than shelling $400+ for an iPod. Gave it to Finacee Unit for use at the gym.

      2. It’s me

        I forgot to log in again… that was me who got the Seinfeld… assumed you knew that unless someone else is married to Joanna. I’m still getting used to this BLOG thing, sorry!

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